Labor union opposition O'Malley can live with

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from Bloomberg:


Laborers' Union Takes Aim at Martin O'Malley
Letter accuses Democratic presidential candidate of "pandering to extremist and elitist elements within the environmental movement" with his opposition to Keystone XL pipeline.

Days before he and some of his Democratic presidential rivals are set to court one of their party's most powerful constituencies at the Iowa AFL-CIO convention, Martin O'Malley is coming under fire from the one of the AFL's member unions.

In a letter sent to O'Malley and made available to Bloomberg, Terry O'Sullivan, president of the Laborers International Union of North America, blasts the former Maryland governor for promising to "reject projects like Keystone," calling his position "an attack on the jobs of thousands of members of the Laborers International Union of North America."

"It says to workers, ‘Tough luck. Your jobs are not important to me,’” O'Sullivan wrote, in a letter than neatly sums up the political dilemma the proposed pipeline poses for Democrats.

"It is absurd pandering to extremist and elitist elements within the environmental movement which makes Americans wonder if Democrats really understand the challenges of working families and if they really care about them, or whether it is all just lip service to get elected," the LIUNA president continued.

O’Malley spokesperson Haley Morris told Bloomberg in an e-mail that the ex-governor “has a lot of respect” for LIUNA, but “simply disagrees with them” about Keystone, which she called an “environmental boondoggle.”

"Moving our country towards a renewable energy future is more important – and would create more jobs - than a short-term project like Keystone XL,” said Morris. “Governor O’Malley’s clean energy plan would create 5 million jobs in 10 years, while Keystone would create a few thousand jobs at most. Leadership isn’t about doing what’s popular or easy – it’s about doing what’s right for our country.” O’Malley’s campaign notes that his record as governor includes policies favored by building trades unions, such as promoting higher labor standards on state projects and signing prevailing wage legislation for school construction in Maryland.

read: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-04/laborers-union-takes-aim-at-martin-o-malley?cmpid=yhoo

[elleng]

1. 'blasts the former Maryland governor for promising to "reject projects like Keystone,'

Sure CAN live with it!

'Leadership isn’t about doing what’s popular or easy – it’s about doing what’s right for our country.” O’Malley’s campaign notes that his record as governor includes policies favored by building trades unions, such as promoting higher labor standards on state projects and signing prevailing wage legislation for school construction in Maryland.'

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3. this union better plan on organizing green jobs

...which promises be the largest growth industry in the next decade, and beyond, if our party achieves the presidency and some control over the national legislature.

[elleng]

4. We'll see if they do.

Pretty old line/entrenched, I think.

[Armstead]

2. I aagreee with OM on that.

Jobs are good. But if he (and other politicians) frame it differently it could be a win-win.

Like a commitment to public infrastructure improvement.

"I'm opposed to Keystone but I support a commitment to improving our public infrastructure, which wold create thousands of more construction jobs (and long term ones) than that pipeline."

[Recursion]

6. XL is probably a job-killer ultimately, because it makes the pipeline shorter

Though I think the question is a bit less black and white than DU likes to make it; it's a question of whether we want a shorter pipeline that runs south earlier than the current one. I suppose conceivably the refineries on the Gulf coast might see a little more work, but not a whole lot.

[msongs]

5. union attempts to prop up obsolete technologies are doomed to fail. maybe all those

pipeline workers can get jobs in the new nuclear power plants